JPS58100476A - Gas-laser device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce effective discharge length up to half conventional devices, and to increase excitation input power largely without arc by making a laser gas flow in a discharge excitation section collide with a collision section, branching the flow and arranging a cathode for discharge excitation to the upper stream of the collision section and anodes to each flow path branched in a lower stream. CONSTITUTION:A laser gas flow path is formed in such a manner that the gas passes between partition walls 13 from an inflow path 12 as shown in arrows 11' and is branched bilateral symmetrically in the discharge excitation section 14, passes through outflow paths 15 and is forwarded into a blower 18 through heat exchangers 17 in a wind tunnel 16. On the other hand, the cylindrical cathodes 19 are arranged at the upper stream side of the gas flow of the discharge excitation section 14 and the tabular anodes 20 divided into multiple sections are disposed at the lower stream side branched in the electrodes for discharge excitation. The gas collision section 21 takes ridge section form with guide inclined planes at the branching side, and the gas flow is branched in T shape between both electrodes when excitation electric input is applied to the cathodes 19 for discharge excitation and the anodes 20. Accordingly, a discharge section A has an extent shown in dotted lines, and discharge excitation volume required can be obtained in short effective discharge length.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a gas transport type gas laser device, and particularly to a gas laser device with a shortened effective discharge length and improved gas cooling efficiency. Regarding.

(Technical Background of the Invention) A conventional gas transport type carbon dioxide laser device is
As shown in FIG. 1, a discharge excitation section 3 in which a cathode 1 and an anode 2 for discharge excitation are arranged facing each other, a blower section 4 that sends laser gas to this discharge excitation section 3, and a high temperature in the discharge excitation section 3 are generated. The heat exchanger section 5 has a heat exchanger section 5 that cools the laser gas, and a connection section 6 that connects the blower section 4 and the heat exchanger section 5.

A total reflection mirror 7 and a semi-reflection mirror 8 that promote laser oscillation in the discharge excitation unit 3 are arranged to sandwich the gas flow, and a voltage supply power source 9 is separately provided to the blower 4 and the cathode 1 and anode 2 for discharge excitation. It is provided.

This device emits a laser beam in the direction of arrow 10.

The gas in the discharge excitation section 6 of such a conventional gas transport type carbon dioxide laser device has a structure in which it passes at high speed in the -axis direction (direction of arrow 11), and the gas that has become hot due to the discharge is discharged. After passing through the excitation section 3, it is sent to a heat exchanger 5 and cooled.

(Problems in the Background Art) In order to further increase the output efficiency of such a laser device, the distance between the cathode 1 and the anode 2 for discharge excitation is increased, the volume of the discharge excitation part is increased, and the excitation electricity is increased. I need more input.

Along with this, it is also necessary to improve the cooling effect of the gas.

Therefore, it is necessary to make the gas flow in the discharge excitation section 3 turbulent by using a blade plate or the like and to make it flow out at high speed, but for this purpose, a large-capacity blower is required.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a gas laser device in which the effective discharge length of the gas flow in the discharge excitation section is shortened and the cooling efficiency is improved.

(Summary of the Invention) The gas laser device of the present invention is provided with a gas collision part that divides the laser gas supplied to the discharge excitation part to which the laser gas is supplied, and a cathode for discharge excitation on the 5 upstream side of the gas collision part. By installing a discharge excitation anode in each branched flow path on the downstream side, the effective discharge length between the two poles is shortened, and cooling efficiency is also improved.

(Embodiment of the Invention) FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the gas laser device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of the embodiment.

In these figures, the Lede gas flow path starts from the inflow path 12, passes between the partition walls 13, is branched symmetrically at the discharge excitation section 14, and passes through the S outflow path 15 to the heat exchanger in the wind tunnel 16, as shown by an arrow 11'. The air is sent to the blower 18 through the air blower 17 .

On the other hand, in the discharge excitation electrode, a rod-shaped cathode 19 is arranged on the gas flow upstream side of the discharge excitation part 14, and a multi-divided plate-shaped anode 20 is arranged on the branched downstream side.

Furthermore, the gas collision part 21 that causes the gas to split has a roof-shaped cross section with a guide slope on the splitting side, and is made of a material with good thermal conductivity and electrical insulation, such as beryllia. .

In the gas laser device having the above configuration, when an excitation electric input is applied to the cathode 19 and the anode 20 for discharge excitation, the gas flow is divided between the two electrodes in a T-shape, and as a result, the discharge part A is indicated by the dotted line in FIG. As shown in the figure, it has a spread, and the required discharge volume can be obtained with a short effective discharge length.

Note that the laser beam 22 is emitted by the discharge excitation unit 14 in a direction perpendicular to the paper plane of FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the laser gas flow in the discharge excitation part is made to collide with the collision part and divided, and the cathode for discharge excitation is placed upstream of the collision part, and the anode is placed downstream in each of the divided flow paths. By doing so, the effective discharge length can be reduced to half that of conventional devices, and the excitation input power can be significantly increased without arcing.

Furthermore, the cooling effect of the gas collision section provided at the center of the discharge excitation section increases the cooling effect and promotes the formation of gas turbulence at the gas collision section, making it possible to apply higher excitation electrical input. Therefore, a high-output laser beam can be obtained.

By the way, T-shaped gas flow path (cross-sectional area 50 x 800
-), a medium gas (mixed gas of CO2, horse, and He) was flowed at a pressure of 30 To meter and a flow rate of 30 ssA, and a 3 KW laser was generated from a once-folded U-shaped resonator (output coupling 35%) by direct current discharge excitation. You can get the output.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional gas transport type carbon dioxide laser device, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the laser device of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 14... Discharge excitation section 19... Discharge excitation cathode 20... Discharge excitation anode 21... Gas collision section middle 22... Laser Beam (7317) Representative Patent Attorney Noriyuki Chika (and 1 other person)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A discharge excitation section to which laser gas is supplied is provided with a gas collision section for dividing the supplied laser gas, and a cathode for discharge excitation is provided on the upstream side of this gas collision section, and a discharge excitation section is provided on the upstream side of the gas collision section, and a discharge excitation section on the downstream side A gas laser device characterized in that an anode for discharge excitation is installed in each flow path. 2. The gas laser device according to claim 1, wherein the gas collision part is formed of a material with good thermal conductivity and electrical insulation.